Let me be clear. I believe your tactic of using the budget bill to defund Obamacare was a stupid one, with no chance of passing (as, obviously, it didn’t). So long as Obama is President, I do not believe we will be able to rid ourselves of that monstrosity in its entirety. However. Now that we’re here. Now that the Federal government has shut down, I beg of you:

Don’t blink. Under no circumstances – not even the risk of a federal default when the debt ceiling kicks in – should you surrender.

Let the people of the US discover exactly how little most of them rely on the federal government. I was thirteen at the time of the last government shutdown, and if it hadn’t been on the evening news I wouldn’t have known it happened. I’m betting most people my age would say the same.

Let Treasury divide the money it has between the interest payments on all our sovereign debt, even if the amount each debt gets is less than interest. Many of us have student loans which the cost of a college education, inflated by federal subsidies, made necessary for attendance. Because of the job market at the time we graduated (caused in large part by federal policies and redistributions), we have jobs with subsistence wages and we are on income-based repayment paying far less than interest every month – but making payments every month. Perhaps, if Capitol Hill is forced to do the same, it might learn some restraint.

Stand your ground. Now that we’ve reached this impasse, it’s the single best thing you can do.